Dave Croteau

In Tucson, AZ yesterday a primary for Mayor was held that saw two Greens on the ballot facing off for the right to go to the November General Election. According to Arizona Public Media:

The Green Party also had a primary in the Mayoral race. Mary DeCamp won that race with 312 votes, which amounts to 70.27 percent. She beat long time Green candidate Dave Croteau, who picked up 109 votes, or 24.55 percent of the vote.

Below is a 24 minute forum featuring both DeCamp and Croteau on Doctress Neutopia’s Lovolution Village TV show.

The Republican candidate for mayor of Tucson, Arizona has dropped out of the race due to a signature challenge on his nominating petitions. This is of interest to third partisans for two reasons. First, it is rare that a major party is pushed off the ballot due to signature challenges (meaning that he didn’t collect enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions in order to meet the legal requirement). It’s more common to see major party primary challengers and minor party or independent candidates pushed off the ballot in this way.

Second, this means that in the general election there will only be a Democrat and a Green. That Green will either be Mary DeCamp, a City Council candidate in the past, or Dave Croteau, a past mayoral candidate. There will be a primary to determine who will be on the ballot for the general election. Another candidate who was running for the Green nomination dropped out of the race in order to support and work on sustainability issues with the now-former Republican candidate.

EDIT: Apparently, according to Jeremy Young and Richard Winger in the comments at IPR, as well as the blog Jeremy Young recommended, the Republicans can still nominate a candidate by write-in through their primary. Also, in addition to the candidates mentioned, an independent was also thrown off the ballot.

Jim Nintzel is reporting at Tucson Weekly that Dave Croteau has dropped his bid to remain on the ballot as a Green Party candidate in the face of a Democratic Party challenge to his bid. Instead, Nintzel reports that Dave Ewoldt, Croteau’s campaign manager will mount a write-in campaign. If Ewoldt secures seven votes in the September primary he will be on the ballot come November. In addition two other Tucson Greens are apparently considering a similar move, meaning that instead of facing one Green on November’s ballot, the Democratic Party’s effort at eliminating Green opposition may result in three times the opposition. According to Nintzel’s piece, Greens would also run in Wards 3 and 5. Ewoldt, if successful, will run in Ward 6.

Changes to the original piece are in italics and result from a comment by Ross Levin. Misspelling of Tucson corrected thanks to Richard Winger.

Tuscon Green Dave Croteau faces a challenge to his petition in his race for city council from Ward 6. The website Tuscon Weekly reports that Democratic Party county chair Jeff Rogers has filed suit alleging that Croteau’s petition has not got enough valid signatures. The petition had to be signed by seven voters from that ward. The article, written by Jim Nintzel, declares that Croteau would only serve as a “spoiler” in the race, and goes on to defend that statement in the comments that follow the story.

The Arizona Star reports that the Democratic incumbent, Nina Trasoff, benefited from a fundraiser held by developers seeking City Council approval for a 4 million dollar purchase of city owned property held May 29th, only weeks before the city council is set to vote on the issue. Arizona 8th has a story on the same topic, calling the fundraiser “Pay to play” politics.